Neither choice at shortstop is a comfortable one for Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers shortstop Andrew Romine reacts after a failed attempt to force out a runner at first base during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers . Romine is half of the Tigers’ shortstop platoon.
KELVIN KUO — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT >> The beauty of an old shoe is that you don’t realize how comfortable it was until you put the new ones on, and they pinch your feet.

As much as it seemed that everyone griped and complained about Johnny Peralta in his time in Detroit, at least there was a consistency there, a comfort level that led former manager Jim Leyland to classify Peralta as an “old shoe.”

Peralta’s free-agent exit and the subsequent injury to defensive whiz Jose Iglesias has left the Tigers will a pair of new shoes — and they don’t fit very well yet, leading to the obligatory complaints from fans.

For the first time since 2010 — when the Tigers traded for Peralta at the deadline to end a season-long carousel at the position that started with Adam Everett, and cycled through Ramon Santiago and Danny Worth — the team has uncertainty at the position.

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And it’s an uncomfortable feeling.

One that probably won’t be ending soon, unfortunately.

“We’re day-to-day at short,” manager Brad Ausmus admitted a few games ago of the platoon between veteran Alex Gonzalez and youngster Andrew Romine.

For a team that put the emphasis on replacing Iglesias with a glove-first defender, it doesn’t seem like it should be a tough choice.

At this stage, Romine is clearly the better defender.

No more evidence is needed than the fact that, when both players were in the game together in the late innings on Thursday, Ausmus put Romine at short and slid Gonzalez over to third.

“I think the preference was shown by what I did,” Ausmus said.

If it’s about giving yourself the best chance to win, and that requires a defensive-minded shortstop, then why isn’t Romine the starter at the position?

After all, entering Saturday, he’d made just one error, and cost the Tigers just two runs, according to the BIS Defensive Runs Saved metric. Gonzalez has three errors, and a negative-five DRS rating.

Yet the Tigers came into Saturday with a 1-4 record when Romine started, and a 6-2 record when Gonzalez does.

Is it just an experience thing, going with Gonzalez?

“There’s other factors. I know he’s scuffled at times, defensively, but he’s also a much better defender than what we’ve seen. I think in that sense, I’m being a little more patient. Andrew needs to play as well,” Ausmus said.

“We try to get them in, when they’re playing, facing guys that we think they can have success against. With both of those guys, in terms of match-ups, a lot of time there’s not a lot of information, because they haven’t faced guys.”

It’s not a straight left-right decision, either, with the switch-hitting Romine getting his first start of the season against a left-hander Saturday afternoon, and just the 10th of his career. It was just the second time Romine has started back-to-back games for the Tigers.

“He moved pretty well at short (Friday), so I wanted to see if we could get him a little bit of a rhythm,” Ausmus said. “I have a theory that the first time a traded player faces his old team, there’s a little extra focus, a little extra motivation, facing the team that traded you. I don’t know if that’s true. It’s just a theory.”

The Tigers could use a boost from the position.

Just don’t hold your breath.

Since his Opening Day heroics, Gonzalez has just three hits, and a .115 average.

Romine is hitting .167 after a single in Saturday’s game.

Could one or both of them be supplanted by someone else?

Sure. There are a few internal options.

After a 3-for-22 start at Triple-A Toledo, Hernan Perez has gotten a bit hotter, hit .435 over a five-game stretch to raise his average to .289, before hitting the 0-for-15 skid he rode into Saturday. Eugenio Suarez has hit pretty consistently at Double-A Erie, with a respectable .267 average.

There’s always Worth, who is hitting .313 at Toledo — playing primarily second base alongside Perez.

None of those same internal options thrilled the Tigers enough to keep them from trading for Gonzalez and Romine in spring training, though.

And there’s always the other horse that’s been beaten to death: the thought that the Tigers could add the as-of-yet-unsigned Stephen Drew, whose left-handed bat would help balance out a lineup that’s skewed heavily toward the right side.

I still don’t think that happens while the draft pick compensation attaches to that signing — the improvement there wouldn’t be enough to warrant the loss of a first-round pick. And then there’s the money, on top of that.

That could still happen down the road, admittedly, after the June draft, when it would no longer come at the cost of that pick.

Until then, it’ll likely be the same pinchy shoes that the Tigers currently have in the closet.

Don’t plan on getting comfortable anytime soon.

Matthew B. Mowery covers the Tigers for Digital First Media. Read his “Out of Left Field” blog at opoutofleftfield.blogspot.com.

About the Author

Detroit Tigers beat writer for The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Michigan. Mowery has spent 18 years covering sports, from preps to pros. He’s been honored with more than 25 awards for writing. Reach the author at matt.mowery@oakpress.com
or follow Matthew B. on Twitter: @MatthewBMowery.